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Highest Bridge in the World Nearing Completion

Posted by michael on from the don't-look-down dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A weekend cookie for all engineering geeks out here. The central span of the Millau bridge (270 meters or 886 ft) has been completed!" The photo is awesome.

6 of 425 comments (clear)

  1. Pylons... by th1ckasabr1ck · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wonder how wide those pylons are? They look like they are a decent width, but of course it's tough to tell with that perspective.

  2. Er... why? by FFFish · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why did they build this bridge? That looks like a perfectly nice valley down there, easy to push a road through, and at 1/100th the cost and no where near the danger.

    Is this a penis boast ("I've got the biggest bridge!"), an environment issue ("No automobiles in this valley!"), an ownership issue, what??

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    1. Re:Er... why? by bobbyque · · Score: 5, Interesting

      For the same reason people build smokestacks...to lift pollution out of a valley. That's the Rhone Valley down there: "Millau's 20,000 residents can also breathe easier--literally--since the bridge opening will put an end to decades of environmental damage caused by the endless lines of vehicles and traffic jams." (http://www.pobonline.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/c overstory/BNPCoverStoryItem/0,2340,108886,00.html)

  3. Re:try this website by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I drove through Millau a few weeks ago, and it is one mother-hubbard of a bridge. I didn't know it was the tallest. Millau is a really bad bottleneck and the existing road is strangled by the lorries which must use it.

    Yes it does rather look "stuck-on" to the scenery. I'm not sure why they couldn't just build a by-pass folowing the contours rather than the whopping bridge. That's my tax money paying for that.

  4. It's quite a sight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've been at Milau last summer, and I must say that bridge is quite spectacular, also the way it was built. During the dozen days I was there, you could see the daily progress they made as the cranes moved and the whole bridge was pushed across the pillars little by little. Amazing bridgebuilding technology, really.

    And maybe it's not evident from the pictures, but the bridge does make some sense when you look at the landscape close-up.

    And it's really big. Standing under the pillars makes it look very, very intimidating.

  5. Check out bridge day by The+Tyro · · Score: 4, Interesting

    at the New River Gorge bridge in West Virginia, USA. It's legal to jump off that bridge exactly one day per year (known, appropriately enough, as bridge day). It's not a bad way to introduce yourself to base jumping legally... jail time sucks.

    Incidently, it's only ten feet shorter than the bridge mentioned in the article (but has a much smaller landing area... people jumping the New River Gorge bridge should have good canopy control skills... it might be tough for a rookie parachutist). The only more-difficult famous base jump landing I know of is Angel Falls... there's a tiny clearing in the jungle you have to hit, or you're in the trees.

    I got invited to do my first base jump when I was a low-time skydiver (only had 13 jumps under my belt) it involved breaking-and-entering, climbing an antenna at night, jumping from said antenna, and avoiding the guy wires... needless to say, I declined. I like adrenaline as much as the next guy, but there's something to be said for living to jump another day...

    Jump smart... you'll live longer.

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